The coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong province is at the forefront of China's opening-up to the world, inspiring a large number of foreign experts to take up residence there. [Photo/WeChat account: qd12301]

The coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong province has always been at the forefront of China's opening-up to the world, inspiring a large number of foreign experts to take up residence there.

Qingdao has been made the list of the top 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats 13 times.

For many international experts, working in Qingdao is a process full of surprises.

"Every time I return to the United States, I tell everyone what life is like here and how much I love this lifestyle," said Chris, a US teacher at Qingdao Meide School.

Liu Wei, vice-president of the innovation technology research institute at Hisense Group, said that in 2010, Hisense launched a new model for global talent recruitment.

All eight experts and two provincial-level professionals in the company's optical chip field are from overseas, thanks to effective talent recruitment policies, Liu said.

A Japanese expert in picture quality design at Hisense Visual Technology said that as a professional who has been involved in TV picture quality design for more than 20 years, he finds that the goals of this Chinese company align very well with his own ideas, making it very attractive.

Sun Qingjie, vice-president of Qingdao Agricultural University, said the university's recruitment of foreign talent does not rely solely on generous compensation but focuses mainly on discipline development.  

For instance, the grass science discipline at QAU is the only such discipline in Shandong. The university has leveraged its strengths in disciplines such as grass science and equine science to attract talent from abroad, and now hosts 25 international experts.